Rocks (Graphic Novel filter)

I processed this photo a while ago using the stamp filter. I even had one version where the color was inverted and the image looked like charcoal (or something.) For today's image, I processed the HDR Photomatix tonemapped version with the Graphic Novel filter, which gives the image a realistic yet cartoon-esque effect. Granted, cartoon rocks aren't all that exciting of a subject, but... that's what I've got for today. Thanks for stopping by!

Dark-eyed Junco (Graphic Novel filter)

Here's an image from a few years back of an old friend who usually shows up in my area sometime in the early spring and the late fall - the Dark-eyed Junco. The image here is processed with the graphic novel filter from Photoshop Elements. Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :) 

Tree with Roots (Graphic Novel filter)

This was one of my favorite images even before I processed it with the Graphic Novel filter. The black and white version reminds me of a coloring page, which is really cool to have a processed photo turn out with that effect. All I'm missing are some crayons, colored pencils, or markers! - Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures!

Frog (rendered with Graphic Novel filter)

This frog photo is from a couple of years back, but I wanted to see how it would look through the graphic novel filter. (Now I know.) :) Thanks for stopping by!

Poinsettia (Graphic Novel filter)

I really like the cartoonishness of the Graphic Novel filter. The subject looks like a drawing, and there is something in this that I find appealing. 

In this particular image, I made the HDR photo from several different exposures merged together in Photomatix. While Photomatix is capable of composing an HDR from a single image, using multiple images provides a better depth (imo). I like to use HDR images for these Photoshop filters, because there's something in the HDR that the filters are better able to "grab on to" than in the unprocessed image. Maybe it has better darks and lights?

For the final image, I will often layer the original color back into the filtered image, which usually comes out black and white, and you see the result in the second image below. 

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my pictures! :)

A Big Rock, A Tree, and Two Little Houses on Poles (Graphic Novel filter)

The title makes it sound like this picture should have a really good story attached to it, so... here goes nothing.

Once upon a time there were two little houses, stuck up on poles. The houses were across from one another, windows on all four sides of the houses. The view from one side of the two houses faced a rock, a very large rock. It was not much to look at. Of the two houses, one had a very nice view of a green leafy tree, while the other could only see the same tree through the windows of its neighbor. There wasn't much room for conflict between these two houses; perhaps jealousy on the part of the house that was further from the tree. Yet, what could it do? Ask the rock to create a slide and knock down its neighbor? Such a maneuver might very well take out both houses! When it finally decided that it could take it no longer, the jealous house asked the photographer to turn the photo black and white, so that its neighbor could no longer see the green tree. Voila! And just when it thought it had evened the score, it came to a realization: The neighbor still had a better view of the black and white leafy tree.

Thanks for stopping by and looking at my picture! :)

Squirrel Tail Mohawk (Graphic Novel filter)

The way this squirrel's tail wrapped back up its body and tufts up over its head reminds me of the 'mohawk' style haircut. This is one of my older pictures, processed here with the graphic novel filter (which I like better than the original image, in this case.) Below are both the black and white and the colorized graphic novel versions of this image. Thanks for stopping by!